Dualling call petition is placed on Downing Street website (From York Press)
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Dualling call petition is placed on Downing Street website
7:42am Wednesday 11th July 2007 in News
THE campaign to dual York's northern ring road has been taken to the door of the Prime Minister.
A petition has been launched on the 10 Downing Street website, calling on the Government to release funding to make the A1237 road into a dual carriageway.
It has been set up by Julian Sturdy, the Conservative Party's parliamentary spokesman for the York Outer constituency.
The Tories made dualling the route part of their local election manifesto earlier this year.
Mr Sturdy said: "The northern ring road is a vital part of York's transport network, but at peak times it is starting to resemble a parking lot.
"The only long-term solution to this growing problem is to dual the road.
"This petition to the Prime Minister is another part of my ongoing campaign to get the dualling of the northern ring road put back on to the political agenda.
"The petition will run for a year, and it is crucial that as many people as possible sign it, whatever political party they support, as this is something which will benefit the entire community.
"There has to be continued investment in our infrastructure or we will simply grind to a halt.
"The congestion level at the moment is starting to have a real impact on the local economy and our quality of life, and this will only increase.
"The local authority and the Government should be working together to plan for the long-term future of our city and that plan has to include the upgrade of the ring road to a dual carriageway."
The petition states: "We, the undersigned, petition the Prime Minister to make funding available to dual the A1237 York northern ring road."
The issue of dualling the ring road was included in the recent Future York report.
The document suggested the road improvement was critical to York's future economic prosperity and progress.
However, leading politicians on City of York Council warned such an investment may only be possible with the introduction of some form of congestion charging, or road toll system.
